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Well, after 4 months of waiting, I finally picked up a brand new Fiesta Titainium last week. It's white and its got lost of extras - parking sensors, full dress up, tech pack etc.

I've driven nothing but focus ST's for the last 7 years - ST170, ST2 and ST3 so I was a bit sceptical about this purchase for months. However , after driving this car for the last few days I must say that this car has the best overall driving feel yet. It's so precise, nimble and it sticks to the road and handles like a dream. Its not as fast as my previous cars in a straight line - but its better through extreme twisty roads.

I do have some very minor gripes; one of which is the lack of interior lights at the rear of the car. I really thought there would be a roof light round there. Same thing in the glove box and boot. I also miss some of the compartments such as a roof glasses holder and centre console draws. Would be great to hear if anyone has found any useful accessories to address these small gripes.

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Well, after 4 months of waiting, I finally picked up a brand new Fiesta Titainium last week. It's white and its got lost of extras - parking sensors, full dress up, tech pack etc.

I've driven nothing but focus ST's for the last 7 years - ST170, ST2 and ST3 so I was a bit sceptical about this purchase for months. However , after driving this car for the last few days I must say that this car has the best overall driving feel yet. It's so precise, nimble and it sticks to the road and handles like a dream. Its not as fast as my previous cars in a straight line - but its better through extreme twisty roads.

I do have some very minor gripes; one of which is the lack of interior lights at the rear of the car. I really thought there would be a roof light round there. Same thing in the glove box and boot. I also miss some of the compartments such as a roof glasses holder and centre console draws. Would be great to hear if anyone has found any useful accessories to address these small gripes.

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Welcome to FOC - we have the same car by the sounds of it if you went for the X pack and Tech pack.

Glad to here you like the car - re the sunglasses, I have a sunglasses holder clipped to my sunvisor. £3.99 from sunglasses hut years ago!

Forgot about the sunglasses sun visor trick! Will have a look at that.

Sorry, I do have the boot interior light, but no glove box light. Where exactly is your glove box light fitted? It's not too bad as the front roof light helps you see whats in the glove box when your parked up, but the rear seats are in complete darkness! Can't find anything round there at night! Will have to get a cheap led torch I think.

Sarc, will get some pics up by the weekend as long as the weather holds up! Very similar to DanGull's car indeed!

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Sure it does - it's just integrated into the Info Centre, rather than being on a seperate dial.

Well, the thinking is (aside from the cost cutting aspect) that a temperature gauge is less important on a modern, reliable engine. There's still a warning bulb for 'overheat', but the gauge is gone. Not really relevant on the Fiesta, but I gather it's handy to have on a bigger car if you are towing something like a caravan; it's a 'better than nothing' indication of engine stress when towing heavy loads.

I'd like to see it back, as the OP points out - it's nice to know when you are at safe 'kick the &#33;Removed&#33; out it' temperature*!

Chris...

*Actually I'd like to see the redline move back on the tachometer as the engine warms up, like it does on some BMW's and Mercs! :P

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Sure it does - it's just integrated into the Info Centre, rather than being on a seperate dial.

There is no indication of coolant temperature which can be very useful. An "Engine Overheating" message is no better than a warning light as it only appears after something has gone seriously wrong. :o

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There is no indication of coolant temperature which can be very useful. An "Engine Overheating" message is no better than a warning light as it only appears after something has gone seriously wrong. :o

You are right, the XF has no engine temp gauge. it is actually a feature which i miss from my last car.

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What about the heated seat switch? Is there anyone out there with it? Funny why it's not on my car with the full leather - and you cant specify heated on the ford options list - can you?

On the fuse diagram in the fuse box, there are spaces for the heated seat fuses. My guess would be that Ford have left the option of heated seats available to them using the existing wiring for future models (maybe the ST) or other markets where the demand for heated seats is greater.

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There is no indication of coolant temperature which can be very useful. An "Engine Overheating" message is no better than a warning light as it only appears after something has gone seriously wrong. :o

Yeah, by the time it's on you've seen the steam from the bonnet, I think!

Says the XF does indeed have an engine temperature gauge. Could just be enabled / disabled for different markets, of course? (I wonder what features will be enabled on the US version of the Fiesta when it arrives there? Pretty sure the Yanks won't put up with stuff like skipping MP3s and shoddy bluetooth.)

Says the XF does indeed have an engine temperature gauge. Could just be enabled / disabled for different markets, of course? (I wonder what features will be enabled on the US version of the Fiesta when it arrives there? Pretty sure the Yanks won't put up with stuff like skipping MP3s and shoddy bluetooth.)

Chris...

It's wrong. I can assure you there is no way to enable a a non existent temperature gauge. I owned a 2.7D XF for one year and my present 3.0D S for six months. Why would Jaguar disable such a useful facility?

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It's wrong. I can assure you there is no way to enable a a non existent temperature gauge.

No one's talking about a non-existant temperature gauge (?).

I'll repeat what I've already said: the temperature gauge is (where enabled) part of the INFO CENTRE digital readout - and is displayed on the INFO CENTRE and ENTERTAINMENT screen. A manufacturer can put ANYTHING they like there; all it takes is a few lines of code. It's not a 'needle and scale' physical readout, but a computer generated virtual one.

This is even obvious on the Fiesta, where a quick unlock of the dash (hold the trip reset for 10 seconds on start up) enables the full readout of engine temperature. It's there on the Fiesta - it's just not ENABLED by default so you can't see it without the unlock.

Why they have done this - is anyone's guess, but I'd figure to reduce the cost of producing a section about it in the manual. I would also theorise that most people who don't know any better would swamp the support lines for Ford, asking 'is 90'c OK... It sounds a bit hot' etc etc That's valuable support lines which they need to handle calls on indicators not cancelling, MP3s skipping and 5-doors getting stone chips.

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wait,you start the car up,hold the trip reset button,and the engine temperature readout enables...does it stay on,or do you need to do that every time you start??

Not only the engine temperature - but a whole wealth of diagnostic aids. Step through them with the trip reset button.

Indeed it DOES reset when the ignition is turned off, but the point I'm making is the functionality is all there already in software: it just needs enabled by a dealer or 3rd party (who know what they are doing) to become a permenant display as part of the info centre readouts.

It's no different in any modern car, to be honest. When I go to Canada, the Ford Fusion I drive (essentially a UK Ford Mondeo) has a crap load of extra information available by trip computer. Its the same computer, same software, same person driving: the only difference is that Ford chose to enable these features on the Canadian model and NOT on the UK one.

The days of installing extra hardware, buttons, dials and knobs to get a car to perform a basic function like temperature readout are well and truly over; you just enable the software through the configuration. It's a good thing!

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Not only the engine temperature - but a whole wealth of diagnostic aids. Step through them with the trip reset button.

Indeed it DOES reset when the ignition is turned off, but the point I'm making is the functionality is all there already in software: it just needs enabled by a dealer or 3rd party (who know what they are doing) to become a permenant display as part of the info centre readouts.

It's no different in any modern car, to be honest. When I go to Canada, the Ford Fusion I drive (essentially a UK Ford Mondeo) has a crap load of extra information available by trip computer. Its the same computer, same software, same person driving: the only difference is that Ford chose to enable these features on the Canadian model and NOT on the UK one.

The days of installing extra hardware, buttons, dials and knobs to get a car to perform a basic function like temperature readout are well and truly over; you just enable the software through the configuration. It's a good thing!